Senate takes up farm bill next week

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Senate is scheduled to take up a long-delayed farm bill on Nov. 5 that would continue current farm subsidy programs for the next five years, but also provide improvements in many programs and place stricter limits on the amount of money farmers can get in subsidies.

The bill's new provisions would raise target prices and loan rates for most northern commodities and offer crop farmers a new option known as the Average Crop Revenue program.

It would also provide an unprecedented $2.2 billion in assistance for the fruit and vegetable industry and raise the sugar loan rate by a penny per pound and create a program under which excess sugar could be sold for use in ethanol.

The bill also includes a compromise on the implementation of country of origin labeling for red meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, peanuts and macadamia nuts. It would allow interstate shipment of meat inspected by state government employees under a compromise agreement reached between the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, the National Farmers Union, consumer groups and labor unions.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and ranking member Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., have worked with Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., to write a bill that will be acceptable to all regions of the country.